JAKARTA, April 20 (Reuters) - Indonesia’s Pertamina has signed agreements to take over the rights to eight expiring oil field blocks previously held by Chevron , CNOOC and Inpex, among others, an energy ministry official said on Friday.

“Pertamina has paid a signature bonus of $33.5 million,” Oil and Gas Director General Djoko Siswanto said, referring to the agreements.

Pertamina had also committed to spending $556.5 million on developing the fields over the next three years, including for drilling programs, exploration and workovers, he said.

“We hope Pertamina can use the employees who worked for the previous operators, maintain output and use the same products and services,” Siswanto said.

As of December, output from the blocks was at 68,599 barrels of oil equivalent of liquids and 306 million cubic feet per day of gas, upstream oil and gas regulator (SKKMigas) chief Amien Sunaryadhi said. (Reporting by Jakarta bureau; Writing by Fergus Jensen; Editing by Tom Hogue)